Ottawa Treaty

The Ottawa Treaty, formally the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of 1997, is also known as the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention or simply the Mine Ban Treaty. Its aim is to eliminate anti-personnel landmines around the world. By August 2025, 162 states had ratified or acceded to it. Major powers that have manufactured landmines, including the United States, China and Russia, are not parties, and India and Pakistan are among the other non-signatories. In 2025 Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland began the formal procedure to withdraw, and the three Baltic States, Finland and Poland completed their withdrawals between December 2025 and February 2026. Ukraine, facing landmine use by non-signatory Russia in the Russo-Ukrainian War, has not followed the treaty and announced in 2025 its intent to withdraw, although the treaty says it remains in effect until the end of the conflict.